Rain Anyone?

Gray, dreary. Who was it who sang "Rainy days and Mondays always get me down"? Oh yeah, Karen Carpenter. She had something there.

It's been raining a lot here in the Bay Area lately. Last Friday it was not just a little drizzle. No, this was solid rain throughout the whole day. Rain across the bridge, rain on my car, on the road, outside my office window, on my face, my clothes, my jacket.

Rain everywhere. Dripping, pouring, spitting. Wet, wet, wet.

If I was in Manila, I'd still be stuck in traffic, with 5 lanes of traffic going in one direction and one going in the other. Water might be up to the middle of my car door and I'd have to keep one foot on the accelerator to keep the exhaust pipe from filling with water. Gutters would be full and overflowing. I'd see trash floating in the streets.

Boy am I glad I'm here where roads drain reasonably well.

On Running in the Rain

Running in the rain has never really appealed to me. Yet as I set foot out the door this afternoon for a run, a couple of raindrops hit the ground. Hmmm, shall I stay or shall I go? It took me about a millisecond to decide. Go, go, go. The elements be damned, I'm going running and, by gum, I'm going to run 5 miles today. Come hell or high water.

Well, the high water didn't materialize, those raindrops were just a test of my willpower. My determination to run had the clouds in awe and they decided to hold off till I was done. Sure enough, an hour after I got back, the heavens opened up.

I did my 2.5 mile neighborhood loop twice and it was, dare I say, easy. I have the Dish of Death to thank for that. Running it twice a week during the week has made today's flat run comparatively a walk in the park.

Part of me wishes the rains had come while I was running, that I'd gotten drenched to the bone and still kept going. I've got a feeling that that day will still come. When it does, I will run (because I'm crazy!). I feel brave enough to say this because, after all, I live in the Bay Area. How cold can it really get? I bet the hot shower afterwards will feel even better.